Bad Dreams
by supercomsandeggos
Summary: AU for Stranger Things. Eleven defeats the Demogorgon and currently stays at Mike's house. The time spent in the Upside-Down still haunts her. Mike is there to make her feel better.


**So I recently binged watched Stranger Things and I am obsessed! I never thought I'd be so emotionally attached to these characters and amazing story (although I tell myself that every time I watch a new TV show). So I'm just gonna pretend that Season 1's ending never happened and Eleven is safe and sound and all the children are happy, Will is safe, everything is fine (I'm in denial don't judge me)! I absolutely love Mike and El's relationship so I wrote this short one shot about them! Enjoy!**

 **. . .**

There was never a dull day when you lived in Hawkins, Indiana. With supernatural beings and spirits, or just the townsfolk, there was always an adventure waiting around the corner. A few weeks back, a child named Will Byers was mysteriously taken by a monster from another dimension, a Demogorgon from the Upside-Down. Will was presumed dead until his friends and family found out the truth. Now, 'the boy who came back to life', was reunited with his family and living happily in his warm home.

During Will's disappearance, his best friends, Mike, Dustin and Lucas, embarked on an amazing adventure of their own. While searching for their missing friend, the boys ran into a young girl named Eleven. Eleven had been through a lot of secret government experiments her whole life and was never given the opportunity to live like a 'normal' girl. That all changed when she met the group of best friends who welcomed her and weren't afraid of her powers. With the help of some new friends and family, the group of kids were able to defeat the monster and rescue Will.

That was weeks ago. Now, Eleven stayed at Mike's house in a blanket fort he built for her in his basement. It was only temporary, for Mike's parents couldn't get her a bed at the moment, but El didn't mind. Mike had introduced her to his parents who invited her into their home (after a few discussions first), and Mike was relieved that he didn't have to hide El anymore.

Over time, Mike began introducing El to new things such as video games, movies, comics, and cartoons. They would sit in the living room or in the basement watching Sci-Fi movies and Mike would explain the plot to El if she got lost. Recently, the duo had been watching the Star Wars films and El began to understand most of the references the boys would be quoting.

"So, the bad guy is the good guy's papa?" El had asked after they finished 'Empire Strikes Back'.

"Yep," Mike smiled as he remembered her shocked reaction when Darth Vader uttered the famous 'I am your father' line. "But Darth Vader isn't the _true_ bad guy. There's another person even more evil than he is. But we don't find that out until the next movie."

"Can we watch it?" El asked excitedly.

Mike looked at his watch and realized it was almost 11:30. Even for a Friday night, it was getting late.

"Tomorrow we can," Mike yawned. "It's almost midnight and Mom will kill us if she finds us awake that late."

El's eyes widened in fear and Mike realized that she wasn't quite used to exaggeration.

"Not literally!" Mike said and held his hands out. "It's just a figure of speech, S-she won't really kill us. But she _will_ be pretty mad, so we should go to sleep."

El rubbed her tired eyes and nodded her head in understanding.

"After breakfast tomorrow morning, we can come back down here and watch Return of the Jedi," Mike smiled. "That's the last movie in the trilogy."

"Promise?" El looked up at him.

"Pinky promise!" Mike responded.

"What's a pinky promise?" El asked, confused.

"It's like a regular promise, but stronger," Mike explained. "You hold out your pinky, like this, then you wrap it around the other person's pinky and you promise them something." The young boy demonstrated by gently taking her hand and wrapping his pinky finger around hers.

"Pinky promise," El smiled.

The kids wished each other a good night and Mike went up to his room after making sure that El was comfortable in her blanket fort. It was nice that everything was back to, what you could consider, normal. All the kids at school were amazed by Will's miraculous recovery and he was slowly becoming more popular in class. Troy and James kept their distance from the group ever since Eleven broke Troy's arm when he threatened to hurt Mike and Dustin.

Mike chuckled at the memory as he lay in bed. Eleven was definitely one of a kind. She was loyal, funny, protective, everything you would want in a friend. Dustin, Lucas and Will really enjoyed her company as well. Dustin nearly passed out from excitement after El showed him that she could make the Millennium Falcon fly with her mind. Mike closed his eyes, growing sleepier by the minute, as memories with his friends flooded his subconscious.

 **. . .**

She wasn't sure what time it was. All she knew was that she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep after that nightmare. El had a tight grip on the blankets covering her, hoping that this horrible feeling would go away. She had plenty of nightmares before, why was this one so different?

Could it be because it was dark? No, she was used to that. Could it be because there was more than one monster, each one looking more horrifying than the last? Possibly. Or was it that she had seen these monsters attack her friends and family, one after the other and she was unable to do anything about it. Yeah, that had to be it.

El shivered and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. She glanced up at the steps that led to the upper part of the house. Silently she tiptoed up the stairs and snuck around the hallway until she made it to Mike's room. She had to make sure he was safe.

Mike's door was cracked open and El peered into the room. She saw him sleeping peacefully, no monsters in sight. The girl smiled, happy that her friend was safe, but for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling of terror out of her head. El crept over to Mike's side and gently shook his shoulder.

"Mike," she whispered, trying to wake him.

The boy stirred in his sleep before opening his eyes, seeing El by his side.

"El?" he asked. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Bad dream," she whimpered.

Mike rubbed his eyes and sat up. "You had a nightmare?"

El nodded and looked up at Mike, wondering what to do.

"Okay, hold on," he whispered and guided her around the dark hallway, glancing around to make sure no one else was awake. Mike led her back downstairs and turned on one of the lamps that lit up the basement.

"Just stay here for a sec, I'll be right back," Mike said. He went back upstairs and snuck into the kitchen. Silently, he grabbed 2 bowls and spoons from the cabinet and filled each bowl with a small amount of ice cream. He put the container back in the freezer and went back downstairs to the blanket fort.

"Here," Mike smiled and offered El the bowl. Hesitantly she took it and began to dig into the dessert.

"My mom would always give me some ice cream when I had bad dreams," he explained.

The duo sat and ate their ice cream in silence. Mike fiddled with his thumbs until he worked up the courage to speak up.

"So, uh, do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "Talking about stuff like this always makes you feel better. Trust me."

El stayed silent for awhile before explaining what had happened in her dream. "The Demogorgon got you. Got everyone. I couldn't do anything," she spoke softly, trying to fight the urge to cry.

Mike fell quiet, not knowing what to say. He took ahold of her hands and looked into her eyes.

"You know it wasn't real, right?" he asked calmly. "You beat the Demogorgon and saved Will. I'm sure you'll still have bad dreams, we all have to deal with those sooner or later. But I know that as long as we're all together, we'll be fine. And if these nightmares ever return, just know that you always have someone to talk to."

El pulled Mike into a hug and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

Mike wrapped his arms around her and blushed.

"Feel better now?" he wondered.

El nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Mike smiled and began to crawl out of the fort.

"Okay then," he yawned. "G'night, El."

The girl stopped him by grabbing ahold of his sleeve.

"Stay...please?" she asked and looked at him with the 'sad puppy' look he couldn't turn away from.

Mike stood still, at a loss for words. After a few moments, he gave in. Hopefully he could wake up early before the rest of his family and sneak back up into his room like he never moved. Grabbing the spare blankets on the couch, he created a makeshift bed next to Eleven's.

Mike turned off the lamp and lay next to El. Both of them stared up at the blanket that covered the chairs holding the fort together. Mike shifted his position and hoped that his parents would get El a new bed soon, realizing how uncomfortable the basement floor was. 'El must be able to sleep like a rock if she's able to fall asleep here every night' he thought.

"Don't worry," he informed her. "No more bad people will be able to get to you as long as I'm around."

El stretched out her arm and held out her pinky.

"Promise?" she asked.

Mike smirked and wrapped his pinky around hers.

"Promise," he said.

 **. . .**

 **Mike and El deserved better! They should've been able to go to the Snow Ball and eat Eggos and be happy! But nooooo! Fortunately, that's why we have fan fiction. Reviews are appreciated. I probably plan to write about these two in the future (hopefully something a little bit longer), so until then, I'll see you next time!**


End file.
